"What says your heart, my Lilybell?" asked Kate, softly, as she caressed the hand that was at liberty.

"'The prisoned bird doth ofttimes sing, but never at the bidding of its jailer,'" was the low reply, with a faint smile, but tearful eyes.

"Poor Lilybell; she can not bloom before her time. I can wait for her to open now, for I am close to her throbbing heart. Wait, dear Grace. Let us sit silently and ask the Father for guidance."

Sweet and solemn moment, when with one accord, they waited for the Spirit to pour out the full vials of love and wisdom. It was a precious time of sweet communion, of giving and receiving the best, a consecration of self to better efforts, higher aims, holier living; a baptism of strength and peace and lovely thoughts.

Grace had entered upon a new epoch. The past, with its longings and struggles, its loneliness and bitterness, was already fading into the background of memory like some dark, ill-favored picture, and in its place came the present, with its balmy atmosphere and dainty colorings, promising joy and peace. The morning looked fair. How would be the noon and eventide?

Ah, no questioning when you ask the Father's guidance! Have you not asked, dear heart?

Wait till the answer comes. Wait till the soundless message is delivered into your heart's safe keeping....

The last beams of the setting sun came through the window and bathed them in its red-gold glory. In her exalted mood, it seemed to Kate like a heavenly vision. She saw Grace glorified with a divine radiance, baptized with a new peace. White-winged angels hovered near, like pure thoughts personified. Every glinting sunbeam seemed a golden shaft of love.

The glory paled into a mellow twilight. The enchanting picture faded, but the essence of its beauty changed into a heart-melody of softened sacred joy. What but music could speak in this hallowed moment?

Kate's very soul would utter itself. She went to the piano as in a dream. Soft, low notes, faint and sweet, breathed of tender questionings and tremulous doubts; then a higher, more triumphant strain of victory swelled the notes that lingered but a moment, ere a tone of sadness and regret struck the keys, whispering of sacred duty and solemn responsibility.... Again the music changed. Now peace and joy thrilled and rippled through the melodious chords....

Dearer than ever was the friendship thus cemented. They had been caught up to heaven, as it were, and that which had been bound on earth was now bound in heaven.

"Mystical more than magical, is the communing of soul with soul, both looking heavenward. Here, properly, soul first speaks with soul; for only in looking heavenward, take it in what sense you may, not looking earthward, does what we can call union, mutual love, society, begin to be possible."

They sat till late into the night, discussing and considering all phases of life and its problems.

Kate read Mrs. Hayden's letter, which in the agitation and excitement of the first part of the evening she had quite forgotten. Because of their deep earnestness they were well prepared to catch the healing mood. This experience seemed indeed the shower that most opened the blossom of understanding, and ere they slept, each had taken some poor suffering mortal into her care as a patient. The blessings they had received were already being passed to the waiting neighbor.

It is the deep, unselfish God-love that takes the world in its embrace. To perceive, feel, live the divine Love, is to have broken the old shell of selfishness, when we may begin to send the tender rootlets of being into the ready soil of the universe.



CHAPTER XXXII.

"The power to bind and loose to Truth is given! The mouth that speaks it is the mouth of Heaven. The power, which in a sense belongs to none, Thus understood belongs to every one."

—Abraham Coles.

"Thro' envy, thro' malice, thro' hating, Against the world, early and late, No jot of our courage abating— Our part is to work and to wait."

—Anon.

MARLOW, October ——.

"Dear ones at home: Your letters were all received this afternoon. Am pleased to know that Mabel is so interested, for it will help her so much in her studies and work. I must begin my daily report at once, as there is not much time before class.

"There was no lesson yesterday, and about noon Mrs. Dawn came after me to go with her and Mrs. Browning, her hostess, to the dentist's, as Mrs. Browning had to have a tooth extracted. We started, treating her all the way with the quieting, reassuring thoughts that allay fear. Before she went in we agreed to hold that thought.

"When Mrs. Browning went into the office, we remained in the waiting room thinking as intently as possible:

"'There is not a thing to fear, Lida Browning, there is no tooth-ache with your real self, there is no sensation in matter. You can entertain nothing but the One Life. The One Mind thinks, and you are His idea, perfect as your Creator. Good is all, Love is all, Peace is already with you, for you are one with the Father.'

... "It was done. The dentist was so amazed that he hardly remembered to give his patient a glass of water.

"'Well, I never knew a cuspidate to come so hard. Didn't it hurt terribly?' he asked sympathetically.

"'Not a bit except when you first put on the forceps,' was her prompt reply as she rinsed out her mouth....

"I need say no more. You can imagine our pleasure at this victory. We never know how little our faith till we see how astonished we are at the demonstration.

"You ask if Mrs. Pearl has explained your queries. A few questions were handed in yesterday, but I had not time to put them in my letter. One that always puzzled us, was: What is the origin of evil? The questions are written on slips of paper and laid on the table. She answers them before giving the regular lesson. When she read this slip there was not a little stir among the fifty eager questioners. 'What is the origin of evil?' she repeated. 'It has no origin,' was the unsatisfactory answer, after a momentary silence. Oh! the blankness of those faces! 'But,' she resumed presently, 'if you ask how seeming evil originated, I may give you the ideas that came to me as a solution of that mortal mind question.'

"You know we might ask questions of each other forever, but unless our thoughts are tinged with same quality, or run in the same direction, the satisfactory answer to one may not be at all satisfactory to another. In other words, we will not recognize the same phase of truth, unless we are in the same stage of development, so if you are not willing to take my explanation as true, it may be that you are not yet where you can perceive it, or it may be, you require a different illustration to convey the same thought, or, there may be innumerable reasons, but of this one blessed fact be assured: if you hold yourself in the receptive attitude, and sincerely expect to be guided by the spirit of truth, some day the answer will come to you with such irresistible force and plainness that you can not forget it, or ever be in doubt upon that point again.

"It was in this way the light came to me. That question had puzzled me more than all else, and I asked every healer whom I met as to the correct solution. For several months I pondered and fretted over it. At last, in despair, I let it alone, resolving I would not be further troubled. But one day it unfolded itself so clearly and beautifully I was completely satisfied.

"Here it is: Taking the first account of creation, we find man made in the image and likeness of God, given dominion over all things. If we believe man to be spiritual and not material, if we know that spirit can not change its character or quality, we must know that spiritually man never fell, but that he seemed to fall through our misconception and misunderstanding of appearances.

"Man now manifests what he believes in; his consciousness of truth is not fully developed and he mistakes appearances for realities. Having all possibilities of recognizing only the good, he is perfect. For every mistake that is made he manifests error, the fallen, or rather the undeveloped state. The Truth and Love that he manifests in his life, is the revealment of his God-like nature. In the glimpses of his true self he recognizes his inheritance of power, and in his mistaken conceptions forgets to acknowledge God. He then judges according to appearances, and says things are true because they appear true to the senses.

"The creating principle of life is perfect, but man neglects to acknowledge this divine power in proportion to his selfishness. It is therefore his selfishness that prevents him from recognizing the Good, and causes him to see, name and believe in matter and its consequences; and he thus becomes materially minded, and is known as the 'Adam' in 'whom all die.'

"Adam signifies error, clay, unreality. Christ signifies Truth, Spirit, Reality. If we believe in things that appear to be the creation, we are believing in nothingness, which so proves itself by death and disintegration. If we believe appearances to be the sign of the real, we are acknowledging the spiritual to be the all, hence it proves itself by making even the body its sign, manifest life, health, perfection.

"If we cast out all selfishness, pure love takes its place. We must be purified from the beliefs of the world in selfishness and its consequences by recognizing that our 'sufficiency is of God.'

"This was very plain to me, John, and I hope you will find it so too, but if you do not, wait, and as soon as you are ready for it, the answer will come to you.

"The lesson to-day was on deception and personal influences. The whole world has been deceived into believing man is fleshly instead of spiritual, so many false thoughts and beliefs have arisen, which are the cause of all disease and trouble. Universally we are deceived, individually we are deceived, and it is not only because we are making our beliefs visible on the body, but because we suffer from them mentally and physically that it is necessary to discover what they are and cast them out.

"The term deception will cover the mistakes believed and made in ignorance, and deceitfulness will include the beliefs in and expression of deceitfulness. On the second day the patient is treated for the world's next greatest beliefs, which are deception and deceitfulness, and as before, we set him free from this belief, as possibly reflected or absorbed through one or more or all of these five avenues we mentioned in the first treatment.

"Because the world has admitted the first great lie, that the material creation is the true one, or synonymous with the true, we have 'yielded ourselves servants to sin,' hence will see the consequences of such false conclusion, until we deny the lie and affirm the truth.

'Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive,'

is a couplet I remember learning long ago, when I was a child, and how applicable it is to this problem of deception. Truly, it is a tangled web, and the only way to get it untangled is to break off the thread and go back to the beginning where we can truly say, I am created free and perfect and whole in His image, and can not be influenced by anything different from Him.

"This is always spiritually true, but if we deal with the worldly beliefs, we find that according to appearances, we are under the influence of our own and every other person's wrong thought. We say of some people, 'how happy I am in their company, how it uplifts me to be in their presence.' With others we feel a nameless depression, a fearful, unhappy feeling, and shun their company. As Emerson so aptly says: 'With some I walk among the stars, whilst others pin me to the wall.'

"Now, in reality, no good ever comes from personal influence, although in the first instance it might seem so. Personal, from the word persona, a mask, is only applied to the physical self or carnal mind; therefore we can receive no benefit from the personal quality of our friend, but we are benefited and uplifted by his freedom from personality, or in other words by the divine individuality flowing through him and expressed by his benevolence, his love, his cheerfulness, his wisdom. Inasmuch as he is free from personal or selfish thoughts, he is filled and permeated with gifts from the divine Fountain of all benevolence, all love, all cheerfulness, all wisdom.

"There is a difference between personality and individuality which most people do not recognize. Personality only pertains to the physical, while individuality is the term properly applied to the spiritual self. 'There is but one Mind, the Universal Mind, which, if we can lay hold on, will give us all knowledge, wisdom and power,' said Emerson.

"When we can throw aside a belief in personality, or personal influence, we will be free. The negative thoughts sent out by the world have no power over one who has become filled with positive thoughts of righteousness. When we trust wholly to the Good, and become wholly at one with the Good, recognizing the supremacy of the Good, we are free from all belief in miseries or burdens. We breathe purer air, which is invisible but life-giving; we feed on heavenly manna, the true word that is divinely nourishing; we escape the awful bondage of fear, knowing the perfect love that casts out fear. We can not fear any false beliefs or wrong thoughts, for we are so filled with true thoughts, no such falsities can enter our mind.

"Some people talk as though we have great cause to tremble at this awful counterfeit power of mortal mind, but if they would not talk of it, nor fear it as having power, it would vanish as mist before the morning sun.

"The great sin is in admitting a lie. Admit the belief of sickness as a reality and you will see many witnesses to prove it. 'Agree with thine adversary quickly, lest he turn and rend thee,' means make haste to dispose of the lie that will throttle you, if you fellowship with it ever so little. Let us not be deceived, but let us 'awake to righteousness and sin not.'

"Another question, and a very important one, was: 'What is the difference between the different teachers of Christian Healing?' I can best give the substance of Mrs. Pearl's reply by reference to Mrs. Fuller, the healer from Trenton.

"You remember when she gave her parlor lecture at Mrs. Haight's, she said: 'Everything that did not come from her teacher was mesmerism, that it was altogether false, and it was so much of a power that it was indeed to be feared, for there was no telling what its subtlety and cunning would suggest and execute; that no cure effected by it was permanent, but that the patients would sooner or later be worse than before.'

"Oh, dear, I must not rehearse it, for of course you remember how my old headache overtook me when I got home, and how wrought up I was all night. Now I know what caused it, and now I know the difference.

"In the first place, these people are taught the pure and beautiful foundation of pure Christian Healing, but instead of holding to their premise that all is good, they begin to talk about people and things that are not good, imputing false motives, and giving false power to those who, as they say, are not in the truth.

"If they would only remember that counterfeits can have no power except as it is delegated to them, that unreal thoughts must disappear in the presence of true thoughts, they would not be troubled and puzzled. Adhering to the law, they would recognize and talk about the Good only.

"Ah, John, here is the secret of Jesus' words, 'Resist not evil.' If we resist anything, we recognize it as something. If we regard evil as an entity, we can not help fearing or fighting it, but if we know it is nothingness claiming to be something, we deal with it accordingly.

"Whoever resists evil or calls evil a power, has not denied the reality of evil faithfully enough. To talk of anything as having power, is to believe in the power and become entangled in its meshes. That explains Mrs. Fuller's remark that she was 'actually afraid to meet one of those false teachers on the street, and always took pains to warn people against them.' I speak of Mrs. Fuller because you know so well what she did and said, that you will understand this explanation better.

"Another remark she made was, that 'this power of mortal mind is wholly ignored by these false teachers, although they secretly use it so effectually and disastrously.' Because they do not talk so much of evil, she thinks they ignore it, while really they silently but earnestly and vigorously deny it, thereby getting a sure control over it. She was taught to call this seeming power of mortal thought Mesmerism, and Animal Magnetism, and after giving it such formidable names, and so mighty a place, it is most natural for her to say that it affects herself and family or her patients, causing them to be slow in yielding to treatment. Thus you can readily see how she accounts for her failures.

"Mrs. Pearl teaches that we can deal with this influence of carnal or mortal mind, by denying for the patient the conscious or unconscious reflection of it from these five different sources. To the patient who is ignorant of truth, mortal thought has a power, because he has acknowledged it as having power, but in our silent conviction of its powerlessness, we speak the true word that sets him free. The whole secret lies in our own freedom from belief in this false power.

"The name Mesmerism or Magnetism makes it seem like some awful monster, lurking in every corner, ready to devour us, while, as Mrs. Pearl says, we go our way, quietly denying all appearance of evil, proving the law of Good by recognizing only the Good in thought and speech.

"How beautiful this teaching is! and how wonderfully the spirit leads us into all truth. But it can not teach us if we talk error, or deliberately judge others. Never till we are faithful in acknowledging the one Principle of Life will it prove itself the only power over us.

"After the questions, Mrs. Pearl spoke of the third treatment. We treat for everything we might have missed in the first two treatments. Sometimes this is called the sin treatment, for it takes up so many things that belong more or less to everybody, according to the world's belief. A more explicit naming is selfishness.

"Selfishness is the beginning, the mother of all the rest. It reminds one of the seven devils from which poor Mary Magdalen was freed. It is not unlikely these were their names: Selfishness, pride, envy, avarice, jealousy, malice and cruelty. This we deny for the patient through the five different sources, and you can see how apt it will be to touch him, for who is there of all earth's children that is perfectly free from any of these qualities. With our strong faith in the law and power of the word, we sturdily deny everything that might be the shadow obstructing his light.

"As we go on in this study, we learn the meaning of these outshowings of disease. Every visible thing is the expression of a thought, whether God-given or man-supposed. We look into a patient's face and read or interpret the signs of his thought. Is he selfish, unkind or severe in his disposition, there are the lines and expressions that betray him. Is he lovely, gentle and kind, a nameless feeling of peace and trust steals over us.

"In the moments or times of silence that every healer should seek, there may come something to hint of the truth, some word or text or mind-picture that will teach what no book or teacher could tell, for 'the spirit of truth leads us into all truth,' and the ways and means are varied according to our capacity to receive.

"A mind-picture is a symbol representing some thought. For instance: Suppose while I sit in the silence, there comes to my consciousness a fragment of landscape, a child's face, a storm, a sun. These are ideas symbolized. If it be a pleasant scene, it may be to me a glimpse of the 'green pastures and still waters' that David sang about when depicting the life of the righteous. It would mean peace for my patient. If the symbol be a child's face, it may mean that I must become as a little child in order to be led into the kingdom. A storm may signify that my patient is passing through a crisis of mental commotion, in which case I must use the invariable rule, deny the false and affirm the true.

"On the other hand I may never see a symbol, but some suggestive text may come into my mind. If I were depressed or discouraged, these words might give me new courage and hope: 'Fear not, for I am with thee;' 'wait patiently on the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thine heart.'

"Or I might not be conscious of anything while I am sitting thus in the silence. The answer to my silent question may come to me in the most commonplace way days or weeks after it is asked. Some person may say something that will be the very clue I am seeking. We are not to be anxious or troubled if many questions perplex us, or many problems seem insoluble, but wait, trusting that 'he is faithful who promised.' We must not be wishing for the same signs or powers that others have, but appreciate what is given to us, for faithfulness shall receive its full reward in due time 'if we faint not.'

"No more to-day. Love to the babies. How glad I am to know they are so well and happy.

"Faithfully, MARION."



CHAPTER XXXIII.

"Comfort our souls with love, Love of all human kind; Love special, close in which, like sheltered dove, Each weary heart its own safe nest may find; And love that turns above Adoringly; contented to resign All loves, if need be, for the love divine."

—D. M. Mulock Craik.

Grace looked very lovely, as she stepped into the carriage, when Mr. Carrington called for her. A suggestion of reserved feeling gave an added lustre to her beautiful eyes, and the faintest wild-rose tint in her cheeks made her a fit study for any artist.

She looks like Psyche just awakened. Can it be possible, that with all her charms, she was sleeping, before to-day? he thought as he took his seat beside her, thrilled with new hope.

He drove into one of the broad, quiet avenues that led out of the city and into a country road. "I thought you would like to visit 'The Glen,' and see its autumn dress," he said, as they came in view of the river over which lay the "Glen" road.

"I have been wishing I might go there, before the leaves fell, and this is exactly what I enjoy," replied Grace, looking out over the scene before her with a keen pleasure.

"Perhaps this is an answer to your wish. Sometimes I think our wishes are answered because of their intensity," said Mr. Carrington, looking meaningly into her face.

"George Eliot says: 'The very intensity keeps them from being answered.'" What gave him the sudden, triumphant certainty that he could bide his time? She had lost all her haughtiness, apparently. He had never seen her in the mood of to-day.

"Apropos of wishes," he resumed, "which are properly thoughts, I have two friends in Boston, who can communicate with each other, no matter how far apart they may be. They call it the power of thought."

"Yes, thought transference. I am quite interested and fully believe it," said Grace, glad to have the opportunity of sounding him on this and kindred themes.

He glanced at her in polite surprise. "Indeed," he said, "are you acquainted with the subject?"

"Somewhat; I have seen enough to know it is founded on law," she replied, briefly.

"What law?" he asked, wonderingly, with a slight smile of incredulity lighting his face.

"Mental law, of course."

She then went on to explain to him something of her study of mental healing. At first he was rather skeptical, but on seeing her seriousness, he very soon grew sober and gave the most respectful and apparently absorbed attention. By the time she finished, he was really interested.

"I have often thought that some day there would be more light upon the philosophy of thought, but I was not aware it was so close upon us," he finally said.

"It is certainly much needed now," she replied, looking dreamily at the white clouds floating in the bits of blue above the trees. She was thinking how much it had been worth to her in her trial last night. He noticed the far-away look and wished he might know her thoughts.

What would have been his surprise, could he have been told at this moment how much he was already indebted to Christian Science? for had it not softened the cruel pride that had so encrusted her before? He knew nothing of this. He perceived a change in her manner and even character since he last saw her two years before, although even then his great love had been able to condone all weaknesses, or what others would call weaknesses. To him they were part of her lovableness.

When she so coldly rejected him, unlike most men, he had determined to wait patiently for her indifference to turn into reciprocation. He had recognized but one thing, the simple, supreme fact that he loved Grace Hall. In regard to her, there was and never could be any other thought. Inspired with such love as this, such sublime patience, such infinite hope, is it any wonder he looked into her eyes and read a hint of victory?

The time was drawing near. His two years of waiting surely gave him liberty to ask, and the right to receive.... As for that, love, such love as his, had royal rights and it would win its own way when the moment came. He would approach the subject gradually, talking about his coming departure, although he had mentioned that in his note, had even dared to tell her this must be his excuse for requesting an answer sooner than she wished to give it.

"Oh, what a lovely group of colors!" exclaimed Grace, involuntarily, pointing to a tree decked in the most gorgeous foliage.

"Shall I get some leaves for you?" he asked, anticipating her desire, and descended from the carriage.

Presently he returned, with his hands full of small branches. "They are lovely hues. Is there not something else you would like? I saw some beautiful ferns over yonder," he said, pointing to the spot.

"Will we have time? I would like to get out," she exclaimed eagerly.

"Time! 'There's time for all things,' Shakespeare says," laughed Mr. Carrington, as he assisted her to alight.

Grace was in her element amid the speaking grandeur of Nature's hills.

"Have you a sharp pencil, Mr. Carrington? I seem to have lost the one I always carry with me, and that grand oak tree I must have as a model."

He quickly sharpened one and gave it to her.

How beautiful she looked! He delighted to watch every movement of the deft fingers, to study every expression of the beautiful eyes and mobile mouth. He revelled in her beauty, because to him she was the personification of all that was lovely and noble and great. Her character he would have loved just as much had she been plain instead of beautiful, for his ideal was the inward, not the outward beauty, except as the two blended into one, as they did with her.

"You seem to be partial to the oak, Miss Hall. Is there any reason for it?"

"Yes, I am. It is a grand symbol of strength and firmness of character," she replied, still sketching rapidly. "I like to paint trees, for they express so much. Some show such kindly benevolence, with their broad, spreading branches and friendly shade, some are so graceful, with their tall trunks and delicately veined leaves, as though showing a fine, tender nature; while others are stunted and rough, with coarse, thick foliage. I place each one as to character and station, and they teach me many beautiful lessons."

"And they will teach me many after this, Miss Grace."

He wanted to say something more, but she was so innocently unconscious of anything but her work that he must wait for a better opportunity.

Having finished her sketch, Grace looked up. The self-consciousness that had scarcely left her, save these past few moments, now returned with painful suddenness. Her eyes met his, and a vivid flush overspread her face, but she said nothing.

"Shall we go?" he asked, holding out his hand to assist her. His eyes expressed the question his lips could not frame, but she did not see them. They went to the carriage in silence.

The road presently left the woods and turned into a broad country lane. Both had forgotten the proposed trip to "The Glen," but it made no difference. At last the undercurrent of feeling had burst through all reserves.

Mr. Carrington awaited the final answer, and what did she say?

It was the sacred page in a maiden's life that is read but once.

* * * * *

Grace had found in her lover a man who was broadminded and liberal enough to fairly consider these matters from a woman's standpoint. They freely discussed a married woman's rights and privileges, and both agreed that a wife should have an individuality after marriage as well as before. "I desired to express myself on this point before, my dear Grace," said Mr. Carrington, "because to my mind it is a mutual life, and should be a mutual development."

"It is, indeed. I have never looked at it in the right way, till the last few weeks. I used to feel that marriage was degrading rather than elevating, because it seemed as though a woman had to give up so much that really belonged to her, her name, her property, her freedom as an individual. But now I see that true marriage should bring freedom in the fullest sense of the word."

"In love there is no bondage," he replied, admiring her independent thought.

"Yes, but the world has a faint conception of love, the love that saves to the uttermost, and endures forever," said Grace.

"With such love there would be no danger of marriage degrading the individual, no need of divorce."

He spoke strongly for he felt strongly. Any one speaking from the depths of a heart-conviction, speaks with authority.

"The world needs to be lifted to a higher standard on these matters. The subject of marriage is too sacred to jest about, and people in general think it no harm to toy with the word and all that pertains to it with the utmost carelessness."

Grace was more like herself now. She was very happy in the thought that Mr. Carrington understood this as she did, but she was not a little surprised to find herself giving such free expression to her opinions.

"Indifference and laxity is the result of the trifling. My theory is that these things should be sacredly spoken of in the family, when boys and girls are growing up. That is the way my mother did," said Mr. Carrington reverently.

"Yes, the family is more responsible than society, for it makes society," she replied, secretly touched by the allusion to his mother.

She felt more and more confidence in Mr. Carrington. It seemed surprising to find how rapidly her love for him had increased since she gave it permission to grow. She did not realize that it had been a smothered plant before, trying to live without sunshine. Now it could grow in the warmth and brightness of beautiful day.

It was early twilight when they returned. Kate was waiting for her. The joyous light in Grace's eyes, though she tried to veil it, told the story. Kate put her arms about her, saying, as she caressed the rosy cheek:

"Lilybell is bloomed at last."



CHAPTER XXXIV.

"Be cheerful: wipe thine eyes: Some falls are means the happier to arise.

* * * * *

Before the curing of a strong disease, Even in the instant of repair and health The fit is strongest; evils that take leave, On their departure most of all show evil."

—Shakespeare.

For two days no letter came, and then Mr. Hayden received two, which he handed to the girls as he met them on the street the same evening.

"Can you spare them both?" said Kate, holding out her hand eagerly.

"Oh, yes; I am especially engaged to-night, and besides they are better together. I am rather glad for the delay. I was afraid the first one had miscarried," he replied.

The waiting had only increased their interest, and on reaching home they at once sat down to read the the two letters handed them by Mr. Hayden.

"MARLOW, October ——.

"Dear John: I suppose you, like the rest of us, are anxious to know how the patient feels after such a vigorous denial of the seven evils. It is quite necessary to know what to do at this stage.

"After the treatment for special sins, James Martin comes with bitter complaints that he is worse instead of better. He tells a doleful story of how he suffered all night; had chills and fever exactly as when he had the ague long ago; how he coughed and choked and broke out with something like measles, and was all the while so vilely sick it seemed as though he was about to die.

"As he is telling his pitiful tale, with perhaps a gleam of hatred, disgust or helpless anguish in his eyes, we are to sit calmly by and very soothingly give him the mental information that 'there is nothing to fear.'

"When he concludes his mournful story, we assure him in quiet tones that there is no occasion for alarm, as we know how to deal with these symptoms. Then, very gently and slowly, with a most self-possessed attitude of mind, we talk to him mentally something after this fashion:

"'There! James Martin, it is all right. Oh, no; nothing has hurt you, nor can hurt you. You are not afraid of anything; you know there is no reality in sickness; you are not suffering any inharmony because of fear or remorse for sin. It can not be possible for you to reflect fear or remorse from your parents, or the race or your daily associates. Neither is it possible for you to suffer from your own fear or remorse, nor mine. Remember, you are spiritual and not material, and can fear nothing. God is your intelligence, and you know that truth is all-powerful. Now, listen! You are happy, you are content, you are filled with blessed peace, 'the peace that passeth all understanding.' You know the Lord is your shepherd. He leadeth you beside the still waters. He maketh you to lie down in green pastures now, this moment. There is no future to God's promises; they are in the eternal present. There! James Martin, a sweet ease comes to you, the burden is taken away; you are in the gentle care of Truth, which ever whispers, 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Sh—h! Gently the arms enfold you, sweetly peace and love embrace you, and you are at rest; sleep if you like. Softly come sweet words of divine love to your waiting ear, 'fear not, fear not, for I am with thee.' Peace ... peace be with you, Amen.'

"This stage is called chemicalization, because our words of truth, dropped into the mind filled with error, produce a fermentation similar to the effect produced by the union of different chemicals. Sometimes the patient chemicalizes after the first treatment, in which case the second and third treatments are omitted.

"When the patient first comes to be treated, he might be likened to a last year's garden. His mind is filled with the roots and rubbish of the beliefs he has sown, and some of them are noxious weeds, deeply rooted in the mental soil.

"Cutting and keen are the words of Truth, and like a burnished plowshare, it enters the unsightly field and uproots everything in its path. We now do not mention sickness, because his mind is so unsettled and his active beliefs of disease all on the surface, so we gently soothe him into forgetfulness of his trouble, and quietly assure him there is no occasion for alarm of any kind. Thus, with the word of peace and assurance we smooth the rough, uneven soil, until it is pulverized and prepared for the new seeds which are to grow and blossom into fair truth-flowers.

"To deny errors for him who believes so absolutely in them, is to dig down into the unconscious mind and rake up even the memories that are imbedded, hence his symptoms of ague, or measles or whatever beliefs he may have had.

"Because mortality dislikes to be told of its faults and consciously or unconsciously resents such telling, the violence of chemicalization only marks the degree of conscious or unconscious mental opposition, of which the bodily symptoms are the picture. There is no law for chemicalization, for some patients pass through this period without even noticing it.

"Sometimes instead of an excited feverish condition, which requires the soothing quieting thought, the patient is dull and sluggish, perhaps unconscious, as in fainting, spasms or something similar; then vigorous, rousing thoughts should be given—sharp, decisive and emphatic, as when awaking a heavy sleeper.

"When called to treat any one suffering from fever or any acute condition, we give the soothing, or peace treatment as it is sometimes called. Little children may be compared to mirrors, reflecting every thought around them. In treating them it is necessary to make the law—and the true word is always law—that they do not or can not reflect fear or belief of disease from their parents or relatives, taking pains to name each person strongly holding thoughts of fear for the little one. If it is a contagious and dangerous sickness, according to mortal thought, besides the near ones in the family, deny that any thought of fear from the neighborhood or world can be reflected upon the child or manifested in this belief of sickness.

"Sometimes children are treated entirely through the parents, that is, the parents are quieted and assured of the truth concerning their little one—that it is living in the current of infinite Love, where no fear can touch it, no sickness come near it, no pain destroy it.

"Such cases require frequent or long-continued treatments, or rather long-continued thought of the Good, mostly affirmation, for very little denial is needed to cut the chains of error from a babe. Denial is to be applied more to the parents—the denial of fear.

"If we feel at all doubtful or fearful concerning our work, we are not at one with the divine Love, and must treat ourselves before we treat the patient. Be at one with omnipotent Law, and the Law will prove itself through you. Know truth and do not tamely believe it, then you may have marvelous proof of the difference between knowledge and belief, God-like understanding and blind faith.

"Mrs. Pearl very clearly answered the question which was asked concerning the meaning of Bible passages implying eternal punishment.

"There is always punishment so long as we are in mortal belief, but it is only in mortal belief we can suffer, for the spirit made in the image and likeness of God can not suffer, neither know suffering.

"The word everlasting should be translated age-lasting, to give the original meaning. Fire is a symbol of purification, and in the language of ancient times it was customary to use strong figures of speech.

"In the fifteenth chapter of John, wherein Jesus explains about the vine and branches, what could be plainer than his illustration of the dead branches? 'Every branch that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit.'

"Every false belief is a branch that beareth not fruit, hence must be taken away and destroyed even as dead limbs are burned. Falsity or evil, being nothingness, can not exist because it is not of the real creation and is necessarily cast into the fire of purification, an illustration well understood at the time, since all the city refuse was taken to Gehenna, a place outside Jerusalem, where fire was always kept for the purpose of burning this waste matter.

"'Every branch that beareth fruit is purged'—that is, if you are a mixture of good and evil beliefs, you will have to be cleansed of the evil, before you can do much with the good. This cleansing process is quite properly named purging. This is what we undergo in suffering.

"'He whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,' means the good in us chastens us, cleanses us for the further working of the Good. Punishment, then, there must be, just as long as we believe in, and fellowship with error.

"Mrs. McClaren, a staunch Presbyterian, did not seem satisfied with this explanation, but Mrs. Pearl told her not to let the question trouble her, for if she would do the best she could with what she knew, in due time the solution would come to her.

"In the night it came. After she retired, the question kept pressing upon her so that she could not sleep.

"About two o'clock it seemed as though a great flood of light came, and with it the clearance of the whole problem. The texts on that theme became illumined as it were, and she could see how impossible it is for the spirit to suffer or be punished when it is like God who can not 'behold evil.' She came over this morning and told me about it. I will give you her explanation of Matt. xxv: 31, 32. 'When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.'

"The Son of man, consciousness of Truth, shall come (be developed) with all glorious thoughts (angels) and judge us in all our ways (nations) and shall discriminate between the false and the true, the evil and the good, then the good motives or good thoughts (sheep) shall coalesce or be set on the right hand with Truth, and the evil or erroneous beliefs (goats) shall be relegated to the left, the negative or no-side, and swallowed up in their native darkness which is nothingness.

"This is the key to the rest of the chapter, and it is in the same line with Mrs. Pearl's explanation, but Mrs. McClaren is delighted that it came to her. Now she feels as though a mountain had been lifted from her heart, so great has been her fear that Christian Healing would make her disbelieve in eternal punishment, which she had learned was an incontrovertible doctrine. Now she realizes that nothing but Truth itself is being revealed to her, and it seems that her heart will burst for joy. This may seem extravagant, but it is just what she said, and after all, you are used to enthusiasm since your wife is an enthusiast.

"Is it not wonderful? I ask myself over and over, and echo answers 'wonderful'! But oh, how ignorant we ever will be, unless we stop and wait for the spirit to tell us what is true! It is ignorance and foolishness that we have to contend with as much as anything else, for it is one of the thickest clouds that hide knowledge. Until we have learned to turn to the hidden fountain of wisdom, we are helplessly bound to error's ways.

"Even after we go forth from a class, and feel that we have been baptized with the spirit, we are afraid we will not be wise enough to answer the world's questionings of our faith, are afraid we may not know just how to proceed with a certain problem, afraid we will be too weak to do the things that come to us to be done.

"'Oh ye of little faith,' says the rebuking Christ within us—'why doubt your knowledge, when God is your wisdom? Why doubt your intelligence, when God is your intelligence? Why doubt your strength, when God is your strength?'

"As we realize there is but one Mind, and that it is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, the influence of all other thoughts will fade quite away. It is because we recognize the carnal mind whose thoughts are frivolous, vain, wretched or miserable, that we are unsettled and dissatisfied. There can be no foundation, no sense of security, to the one who is continually listening to other than the Good.

"Know all wisdom through the universal Mind, and whoever draws his knowledge by inspiration from this source shall become as one with you, and we all shall be as one with the supreme Mind.

"There is an indelible but invisible stamp of truth marking the utterance of those through whom this Mind is expressed, and the invisible something within us, sometimes called the 'Spirit itself,' sometimes the 'light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,' will recognize and appropriate its own. If we keep this judgment faculty unbiased, it will lead us to choose the books we read and teach us how to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is best to read the thoughts of one writer until we understand the root, branch and growth of his inspiration. It is not well to go from one author to another while we are young in the thought, any more than it would be well to take a music lesson from a different teacher every week.

"We must remember that 'he that doeth the will shall know of the doctrine,' and to start out with the Divine will as our guide, as we do when we say, 'God works through me to will and to do,' is to grow in knowledge of all that pertains to the doctrine of the blessed truth that sets us free.

"Never talk of failures, or be discouraged by them, because many times the discouraging outlook is but the prelude to a bounteous harvest. Work with an undaunted faith in the mighty Invisible, knowing that you serve the only Power, are governed by the one Principle, Infinite Justice, that ever rewards according to service. Doing your best, the Best rewards you.

"Under all circumstances we declare our unfailing wisdom because we ask of the Good. We can not foolishly be led away because judgment to do is always with us.

"This is the fifth stage in the patient's progress, and we treat him for ignorance and foolishness as possibly reflected from the five different sources. Deny that he can be ignorant of the truth, or foolish in believing error. Affirm all strength and courage and steadfastness. He comes to-day with an uncertain ring in his voice. He is undecided as to what to do; is weak and nerveless; can not tell whether he is better or worse. The treatment for strength and courage will bring him back to Truth, and he will brighten and revive under the warm influence of your sunny faith.

"One more lesson! I shall be glad, yet sorry, when it is over. Oh, what an experience this has been! Surely, I shall never be such a weak, impatient woman again. Thank God! Now I know what there is for me in this beautiful world.

"Good bye,

"MARION."



CHAPTER XXXV.

"Build on resolve, and not upon regret, The structure of thy future. Do not grope Among the shadows of old sins, but let Thine own soul's light shine on the path of hope, And dissipate the darkness. Waste no tears Upon the blotted record of lost years, But turn the leaf, and smile, oh smile to see The fair, white pages that remain for thee."

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

"MARLOW, October ——.

"I suppose this is the last letter I will write on the lessons in Christian Healing, but I will be faithful as ever, even though I tell it all over again when I see you.

"Everybody looked regretful enough when they went into the class room to-day, but a hundred fold more so when we went out and the good-byes were said. It means so much to us all. We have passed through twelve lessons which may symbolize twelve epochs or stages through which we proceed from ignorance to understanding, and understanding to complete demonstration.

"We have been together scarcely three weeks, and yet so much has been uncovered that we stand face to face with our real selves. All that was conventional has been laid aside in our intercourse, and the best and sweetest and most sacred phases of our lives laid bare, so that we have had a clear glimpse of God's children as they are, not as they usually appear; and indeed it gives us better courage and stronger faith to go forth into the world again, knowing that the possibilities of one are the possibilities of all, for 'God is no respecter of persons.'

"I know, perhaps better than some of the rest, that we shall be walking in the valleys many times when our eyes are on the sun-crowned heights, but if we can be patient and earnest, our feet shall reach the fertile slopes and sunny grass lands of well attained effort. My experience of the past shall be only a stronger incentive to perseverance in the future, and while it seems human to fall, it is divine to rise, and knowing the divine privilege of proving divinity, I trust God to work through me in my daily effort. So said we all when we left the class room to-day, and with a holy consecration to our new-born faith, we trust we shall ever grow in grace and wisdom as God's children, according to the promise.

"Mrs. Pearl spoke of our method as the science of silence, and told us not to be zealous without judgment, not to speak when silence would be golden, not to act so as to bring reproach upon our cause or ourselves, but remember to 'avoid even the appearance of evil.' She said many in their first joyous enthusiasm and overwhelming conviction would indiscreetly tell people 'there is no matter,' for instance, so eager were they to bring everybody into the sweet liberty of the spirit; but the world not being ready to properly consider the subject, would of course ridicule and argue hotly against such a statement, so that false opinions would spring up and most absurd practices and claims be attributed to Christian Healing.

"Our system should have a dignified place in the world's opinion, and if we want to help give it that place, we should aim to be living representatives of the principles, maintain a dignified attitude regarding it, and if we can answer any questions pertaining to it, let our answer and manners be ennobling and Christ-like.

"We never argue audibly with unbelievers. Argument kills the spirit of any religion, and the person who desires to prove his position by argument is not ready to be convinced by the spirit. If you are obliged to carry on a conversation with an argumentative person, silently deny all his statements of error, and with calm positiveness affirm for him intelligence, wisdom, and a desire to know truth. In other words, recognize his spiritual self, which is in perfect peace and harmony, and the outward disturbance or inharmony, which is simply nothingness expressed by him, is annulled. Possibly you may seem obliged to submit and listen to him. Never mind. Carry on your silent thoughts scientifically, and constantly think truth. Thus you will plant a seed that shall bring forth beauteous blossoms, excellent fruit.

"Whenever you hear error talked, deny it. This is 'shutting your ears from hearing of blood, and your eyes from seeing evil.' Any error must be denied in order to see the proof of its opposite truth.

"If everybody would learn to deny all the slander or gossip they hear, we should soon have a new social world. Cruel tongues would cease their wagging, timid hearts could breathe again, and fair names bloom in every home.

"This would be the beginning of a much needed reform in the daily press. Poor editors, they are obliged to fill orders, like the cooks and waiters serving the gentlemen and ladies in the elegant dining-room, ladies' ordinary and ground-floor cafe. Alas! that the discovery should not be made by everybody, so they could send in different orders. How gladly would the bill of fare be changed!

"But there is nothing more certain to change it, than the little leaven of truth dropped in the highways and byways of daily life. We must 'be diligent in season and out of season,' silently as a rule, but at times audibly, perchance forcibly, for some minds seem so dull and sluggish as to need a startling thunder-clap to awaken them from their slumber of ignorance. Thus some patients that come to be healed must be told sharply and definitely how to think or what to say, for sometimes it is necessary to make them say their own word of healing, they are so completely absorbed in material beliefs.

"We grow more in wisdom and spiritual judgment as we proceed faithfully along our way of scientific thought and living, and thus have an unerring insight into what we shall do and say in order to give to each the healing gospel.

"When we go to church we ought to acknowledge and emphasize every true statement made by the clergyman with our silent affirmation, and as emphatically deny every erroneous statement, that we may turn the tide of Truth into a broad stream of spiritual uplifting for the whole congregation.

"Should the minister be inclined to speak about the awfulness and power of God's wrath and punishment, we can silently assure him that God is a God of love, not wrath, and tell him he desires to present only the true side of religion. Some people might say this would be wrong, to dictate to any one how they should talk, but you will notice that it is not dictation of action, but rather recognition of motive—the true motive of the true self. We have a right to recognize the highest and best of every person. Indeed, we are going directly opposite God's commands if we acknowledge any but the good creation, which is the spiritual.

"What can the spirit, which is perfect, made in God's image and likeness, have to say of God's anger or punishment, when it knows neither, inasmuch as it is pure as the Father in heaven? 'Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?'

"Not only in the social circle and in the church, but in all kinds of work, in all affairs of business, and above all, in the home, must we thus live up to our principles which soon prove our sublimest theory by our sublimest practice. And, blessed privilege, we do not need to understand all, before we can begin to demonstrate our precious religion.

"We need not worry about the burden of to-morrow and thus drop that of to-day, but only carry that of to-day with the strength that is given for the day. 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;' daily appropriating their portion of sunshine and air and dew, they unfold and blossom, exhale their fragrance, display their matchless beauty, thus fulfilling their appointed mission; so we may unfold and blossom into rare excellence and strength of character. Refreshed by the dew of a pure purpose, nourished by the sunlight of true thoughts, fed by the all-abounding manna—the living word, we soon grow strong enough to withstand driving tempest or boisterous gale.

"Mentally we are quickened, learning to discern the opposing force in ourselves, and meeting it with the sharp sword of truth, lay it low at once. But it requires practice to wield this spiritual weapon; it takes judgment faculty to discover whence comes selfishness that exhausts and weakens; whence comes the material or sensual thought that sickens and wearies, or the jealousy that poisons and embitters the life-forces.

"Faithfully and diligently do we use the word of denial, that sets us and our patients free from these subtle enemies; faithfully and earnestly we affirm all truth and purity and goodness as our portion, as our strength, our refuge, and our defense.

"By the blessed law, when we have thus cleansed ourselves, we become at one with the one Life. We intuitively draw to ourselves the best quality of friendship and give forth the best; we seek the most uplifting and spiritual literature, because it gives us a fresh baptism of spiritual light, which in turn we give to others, so there is a continual receiving and giving, a continual blessing and being blessed.

"'Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends,' said the Master before his departure. Now 'the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth forever.' We came as servants to be taught. While in our ignorance, we were the servants or inferiors; knowing the Truth we became free, and henceforth are brothers, sisters, 'heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.' We now claim our inheritance, the privilege to enter into the kingdom and possess the land, our royal birthright. In this kingdom are 'hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.'

"The patient who comes to us must on this day be told of the royal gift of health, and we may say: 'Now are ye clean through the word I have spoken unto you.' He, too, must now become the friend, and need no longer be the servant. When he first came to us he was like a little child that had lost his way. We could not show him the way to the velvet slopes of health without taking hold of his hand and leading him through the thickets and underbrush in which he was lost. So we graciously reached down to him, by talking of things with which he was familiar, of animal passions, of selfishness, of sin. We gently and kindly showed him they were not the true, proved to him that his belief in them had led him off the right path, and talked to him of brighter, better, truer thoughts that led to smiling skies of hope, to balmy airs of peace.

"Each day we assured him of his true inheritance, and now we confidently assert that he is in full possession of it. Now he is ready to believe the affirmation without the denial, because he is convinced that the affirmations are true, and he comes to us this day with clear, clean eyes, and a child-like joy in his recovered health. We give him the final word, the benediction, the binding assurance of his birthright.

"Realizing as we must ourselves the wondrous truth concerning his real self and all which that implies, we impressively and with the most thrilling conviction affirm for him that only health, strength, joy, courage, peace, satisfaction, can come to him as the child of God, the idea of Mind in the power of the Thought that thinks him into being. We assure him that he can recognize and reflect nothing but Good, that he can manifest only the Father whose son he knows himself to be. Nothing but Mind can affect him. He is like a column of light against which no darkness can be thrown; like a true answer to a problem which any number of wrong answers can not change. Spiritual like God, he can only recognize and appropriate what is God-like. Henceforth he knows himself and his Father, knows that whatever he may ask (realize) will be granted unto him. Knows that he must acknowledge the Truth, and he will abide in the kingdom of Good.

"We send him forth with all the blessings he can desire, because we have realized for him the possession of those blessings. Knowing that God is all there is, and that our patient lives, is moved and has his being in God, we point with unerring finger to the sunny uplands of health. He can never more relapse as he will ever walk in the open fields of Truth. We bid him God speed on his journey, and thank God that he has come into the consciousness of life everlasting, into health and joy without measure. So be it forever more.

"The thought of perfection should be held steadfastly, even though the patient do not manifest health at once. No matter if the cure is not effected in one, two, three weeks, or even as many months, hold fast, with unwavering faith (even if you do not give regular treatments all the time, and it may be well to skip a week or so occasionally), knowing that good seed must bring forth good fruit; when, where or how, you nor no other may know. Time is unthinkable with God. We are dealing with Principle, not time. We plant the seed, 'God giveth the increase.'

"Do the best you know, and work out your own problems. No one else can do that for you. Jesus gave us the key, showed us the way; more than that he could not do. We must live our lives and maintain our place by our own efforts. It is 'he that overcometh' who receives the supreme gift of eternal life."



CHAPTER XXXVI.

"May I reach That purest heaven,—be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony, Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, Beget the smiles that have no cruelty, Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, And in diffusion ever more intense— So shall I join the choir invisible, Whose music is the gladness of the world."

—George Eliot.

"Mrs. Hayden's was a joyous home-coming. No sooner was the first rapturous welcome from children and husband received, than in came Grace and Kate, who, in their eagerness to see her, had scarcely been able to let her have the first half hour to her family.

"I think you will have to include us in your family, Mrs. Hayden, for we could not resist the family welcome, said Grace, smiling with happiness, as she grasped Mrs. Hayden's hand and drew Kate close beside her with the other.

"You are included my dears. There is but one family you know," was the cordial reply grasping the hand of each.

"What a change in you, Grace—Kate—why, I should hardly know you," exclaimed Mrs. Hayden, after the first excitement was over.

"Grace has lost the cloud of perplexity and doubt, and Kate the expression of fear," she added, turning to Mr. Hayden with a pleased surprise.

"Didn't I tell you they were both growing beautiful?" was his laughing answer. "But girls," he added, "don't you notice something different in Mrs. Hayden? That is quite wonderful, I think."

"Really, Mrs. Hayden," exclaimed Grace, with wonder, "you are not nearly so fleshy are you? I can hardly define the change, if that is not it, but I noticed something the moment I saw you."

"I have lost something in weight since I left home," she replied, somewhat amused at their looks of astonishment.

"Your figure is so much better proportioned, too," continued Grace.

"And your complexion clearer," added Kate.

"Do tell us what it all means. You certainly look better than I ever saw you," said Grace again.

"I am quite thankful she came home before all resemblance to my wife was lost," said Mr. Hayden, with a hearty laugh, as he looked at each in turn.

"Well, be serious now, and I will tell you something after I have put the children to bed," said Mrs. Hayden, cuddling the sleepy Jem in her arms. Fred and Mabel stood beside her, frequently interrupting the conversation, for they, too, wanted to share the good time with mamma. When Mrs. Hayden returned, she resumed.

"It may seem strange to you as it did to me at first, but I see it clearly now, that desiring, searching and living for right, brings the body into harmonious expression. If we think truth, we see it expressed in harmony, beauty, symmetry, because the external is the expression of the internal."

"It was particularly by the denial of matter that I lost the superfluous flesh, for since I was too fleshy to be of symmetrical form, it was superfluous and——"

"Did you know the denial of matter would have such an effect?" interrupted Kate.

"No, not till I heard some of the rest of the class speaking of it, and then I could hardly believe it, but after I understood the theory better, of course it seemed more reasonable."

"It is both wonderful and reasonable too, I think. Why didn't you write something about it?" asked Kate again.

"Oh, there are many things that can be told better than written."

"And many things that can be thought better than told," added Grace, thoughtfully.

"Another lady in the class had about the same experience," said Mrs. Hayden.

"But tell us the scientific reason for such an effect?" continued Grace.

"I will, as well as I can. Have you noticed that it is people who are materially minded in their tastes and habits that are apt to be fleshy?"

"That depends upon what you would call materially minded," was Grace's smiling reply.

"I mean those who like what the world calls the good things of life—those who think a great deal of material pleasures or environments, and find it comparatively difficult to think or realize spiritual things."

"Oh!——yes, I believe that is true, although I have never thought of it," said Grace, slowly.

"Because the denial of matter makes all these things secondary, the effect of the new thought is to make the body more spiritual."

"Of course! Why could we not see it before?" was Kate's conclusive query.

"What effect then, has this denial on lean people?" asked Mr. Hayden, more seriously, for until now he had been inclined to regard this as a little 'far fetched,' as he would have expressed it.

"It does not effect them like the denial of evil, because material things are not so important to them, while they are apt to be pining and fretting about the evils and ills in the world, either as touching themselves or humanity in general. Denying evil and evil conditions would then have the opposite effect, and cause them to gain flesh, or grow into the expression of physical harmony to correspond with the spiritual."

"This is only a higher reading of what we have already learned, and it is lovely to know we may go on indefinitely, ever reading something new," said Grace.

"Now tell me something of what you have all been doing?" said Mrs. Hayden, as she looked at Grace.

"Oh, Kate has been doing some wonderful treating among her pupils, and the patients we took up, are all doing nicely."

"Grace is very modest. She doesn't say a word of how quickly she cured me of neuralgia, or a horrible fit of the blues," supplemented Kate, looking fondly at Grace, who had become dearer than ever since their confidential talks.

"Mr. Hayden has a good report for himself and the children, too, though I suppose you have heard from him," Grace remarked with a smile. He looked rather pleased at her thoughtfulness, but said: "I would rather hear more from Marion. Were there many cures in the class?"

"Several. Mrs. Dexter, the lady I mentioned in my letters as having been a long while under the doctor's care, went home perfectly well, and Miss Singleton also, of whom I wrote. A gentleman who had been in a previous class told his experience. His right arm had been fractured in the army. Orders were given that it should be amputated, but by the intervention of a physician with whom he was acquainted, the arm was saved, though he had never been able to use it much. At times it was very painful. It was so weak he could scarcely lift a plate of bread to pass it at the table. After a few lessons, that arm was just as well as the other. In his joy he told everybody. When the doctors got hold of it, they laughed at him saying if that arm was as large as the other in six months, they would believe there was something in Christian Healing. In six weeks it was as large and strong and sound as the other."

"That was remarkable," said Mr. Hayden, speaking for all. "Did you hear anything about treating animals?" he added after a momentary silence.

"Oh, yes. We may think of an animal as the perfect expression of God's thought, as manifesting the true Life, the same as human beings."

"After all," said Kate, "that is something we ought to expect, for are we not promised dominion over all things?"

"Certainly, and we are not proving our right, till we prove the dominion," answered Mrs. Hayden. "It is a beautiful thought to me, and several of the class told of successful work in this line. One lady had treated a frightened horse, and made him so gentle any one could drive him. It is mostly fear that is reflected upon animals. They manifest thought, even as humanity does."

"I have often noticed horses. They are apt to show the same disposition as their masters. This explains it," said Mr. Hayden thoughtfully. "Why didn't you write about all this?"

"I was afraid it would be too strong meat for you, for I could scarcely realize it myself."

"It seems as though we have had so many wonderful suggestions it will take a life time to understand them," remarked Kate.

"There is no end to the study of Infinity," was Mrs. Hayden's reply.

"How do you account for the quick cures?" interposed Grace.

"It all depends upon how quickly one receives the consciousness of Truth. That is the healing process. But there are not very many quick cures, comparatively, though it is the quick cures we should aim for and expect, for the cure is always in the degree of our realization of the allness of God.

"Another of the older students told of some wonderful absent healing. A lady that had been four years an invalid, and given up to die by five physicians in the place, was healed in three weeks by absent treatment."

"Is that considered as effectual as present treatment?"

"There should be no difference, because we ought to realize that with Truth there is no space nor time. All is the eternal now and here. Some prefer to give present treatment, especially in acute cases; with others absent treatment seems more effectual."

"I am glad to hear that, for I feel that I can do better absently," said Grace, with a look of relief.

"But tell me," questioned Kate, eagerly, "have all persons the same gifts?"

"In the germ, yes; but all are not equally developed. We enter this study in different stages of unfoldment. Some heal quickly, others slowly; some teach naturally, while others find it more difficult, especially at first. We develop the gift we desire to use by continually claiming it and using it, and bye and bye we shall marvelously prove that we have it. In Love we recognize no partiality, no time and no place, and thus we can truly say all we desire is truly ours."

Grace laid her hand on that of Mrs. Hayden, saying:

"Words can never express our gratitude to you both for your extreme kindness in allowing us to read your beautiful letters, Mrs. Hayden. They have made life seem entirely different to us." She was deeply in earnest, and her quivering lip spoke more than a volume of words.

"Grace speaks for us both," added Kate, huskily.

"Dear friends," replied Mrs. Hayden, much touched herself, "I am glad, yes, more than glad, that you can speak so of my letters, of which the greatest merit lies in their simple earnestness—." She ceased abruptly, and for a few moments all were silent....

It was a silence too full for words. A door had opened—a morning dawned for each of them. The mysterious future verged into the mighty present. All that was grand and noble and tender filled the measure of their aspirations. The world surely might enter into their joy, for their joy surely entered into the world.

Mrs. Hayden broke the silence, saying:

"'Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.' Many years have I asked and sought for the kingdom of heaven, but never till now have I found the right knock."



CHAPTER XXXVII.

Love is the high consummation and fulfillment of all Law. It casts out fear, discord and imperfection. To minister is God-like, Christ-like. * * * * The law of love reaches down, rules, and overcomes adverse laws which are below itself.—Henry Wood.

Outside, deepening twilight of a midwinter's day: inside, a bright grate fire, soft curtains, beautiful rugs and simple but elegant adornings for mantel and wall in this lovely room of a lovely home.

The only occupant is a young woman—young because of the real life of which she so vividly and strongly expresses a consciousness, the only life after all to be expressed, and which, rightly appropriated will and must forever be clothed with the freshness and vigor of youth. The young woman is Grace Hall Carrington.

She sits before the glowing embers in an expectant attitude. She is evidently waiting for some one, and as she waits, her mind seems full of pleasant musing. The three years that have passed since we saw her have ripened her character. We can see that. The unrest and longing which pervaded her whole being in the old days are gone. A poise and calmness of spirit have taken their place. Even her attitude as she sits there with the shadows flickering over her, is full of a suggestive alertness that expresses an awakened life. The forces that had slumbered so long in her being are fully alive to their duty and their privilege. Yes, Grace Carrington is awake, and happy as a wife and woman should be. She is thinking even now of the richness of effort and opportunity that have been hers in these last years. She had been particularly fortunate in her marriage. Few women have as much to be thankful for as she has in this respect, but then, she waited to find her true womanhood before she found a husband. Perhaps that had something to do with it. At any rate she is satisfied that she waited.

The door bell rings. A moment later she is greeting two visitors. Who but the friends we knew in the old days—Kate Turner and Mrs. Hayden?

"I really expected you sooner, Mrs. Hayden; Kate is more uncertain. One never knows when to look for her; but never mind, we are together again, so come up to the fire and let us get settled for the evening." And Grace hastened to make her friends comfortable.

"Oh but it is nice to get home occasionally," cried Kate with a shrug of pleasure as she looked around the beautiful room and then at the smiling hostess.

"I only wish you would come oftener Kathie. It seems like the old days to have you here," replied Grace with a loving pat.

"I suspect Kate has a bit of news for us," remarked Mrs. Hayden, as she sat down near the fire.

"Indeed," exclaimed Grace, lifting her eyebrows, and tightening her hold of her friend's hand. "And is the momentous question decided, dearie?

"Yes, and I am to report for duty next week," was the reply.

"Good for you, Kathie. I always knew the Truth would make your music heard, and as Professor Beal's assistant it will be heard a long way and to good advantage."

"She is reaping the reward of her trust in the Law," said Mrs. Hayden. "That is the only thing that will make the working sure."

"Well Kate, you have trusted surely, and to think what a proof this is!"

"How you talk Grace! One might think you had never proven it at all, or that your work didn't bear witness to your own trust," reproved Mrs. Hayden, smiling.

"Oh well, girls, my work has been of the silent order altogether, or rather it has consisted more of silence than work. There's no telling how it will show up," was the blushing response.

It had been a standing joke with the three as to how Grace managed her "liege lord," inasmuch as he had never been quite won over to the Healing, protesting that he had no time for such things, persisting in a good-natured skepticism, although strangely enough he believed a great many things when they were presented without the name of "Healing" attached to them.

"Perhaps that very silence is the secret of its showing, for I assure you it shows," resumed the elder friend, who still seemed to the other two, the incarnation of all that was noble and wise.

"Do tell us the way you manage anyway, Grace," begged Kate, with special reasons for inquiring.

"Why my dear, there's nothing to tell unless it be that a bland silence is a good thing to cultivate. There's no use in making so much of a bugbear of these people who seem to oppose, and the best way to lead them into the green pastures is to let them nibble along the outside until they want to jump the fence and get over in spite of you. Now Leon is really quite hungry to know some things, especially about the practical application of thought to business, but he knows just where and how to find what he wants, so I let him take his own time and his own way."

"Which will end, of course, in his wanting to know all, providing you have the patience to wait", laughed Kate.

"That is a foregone conclusion. I can wait, and I will," said Grace. "Besides," she continued more soberly, "I must consider Leon's rights. He should not be forced to a conclusion simply because I hold it. A hot-bed growth, produced by whatever means, will not bear the hardy, healthy bloom of a natural development. He may be slow but he must be true."

"There Grace, you have touched the keynote," exclaimed Mrs. Hayden warmly. "It is freedom people need, freedom to think and act the highest, for everybody has a highest."

"Yes, if they can only keep the channels open for the inspiration of the highest to come to them or work through them," remarked Kate with a gesture of doubt.

"What better way is there to give freedom or open the channel, than to destroy prejudice, put away antagonism and—"

"Either in yourself or others," interposed Grace, "for to hold prejudice or to believe in evil is always an obstruction."

"After all, it all hinges upon the non-resistance of evil," said Kate.

"Yes, one of the first laws of the beautiful Christlife, and yet one of the very last to be practiced in my experience. I tell you girls, it is the lesson of non-resistance we most need." Mrs. Hayden spoke earnestly as she always did, and her words carried weight.

"Go on, Mrs. Hayden. If I'm asleep anywhere, I wish you would wake me up," cried Kate, drawing the hassock upon which she sat, close up to the elder lady, and putting one hand in her friend's lap, as she waited expectantly for the answer.

"Well dear, I'm only talking on general principles, and what I have discovered in myself—"

"Please tell us what you have found Mrs. Hayden," said Grace. "We need all the light we can get, and no matter how it may cut, we won't shrink will we, Kathie?" with a loving glance at the latter.

"No, we'll only know and be glad that the hot blaze of truth is melting some more of the dark spots in our range of vision," returned Kate.

"It is only this," began Mrs. Hayden, modestly. "I have been looking my theory and practice squarely in the face lately, and I find them in many things quite widely separated. For instance, I have been saying for three years that there is no evil, while in many cases my actions have carried the very opposite idea, and—"

"Why, what do you mean, Mrs. Hayden?" cried Kate in astonishment, "who has been more faithful, who more loving, and who more successful in proving the unreality of sickness and evil?"

"For one thing then, I have never put away the tendency to pronounce judgments on people or things, and I must get beyond that before I prove that I mean what I say, when I say there is no reality in evil."

"But surely we can't help seeing the negative side of things," was Kate's remonstrance.

"No, but we can help making it positive, and we can avoid fighting against it if we only stick to our first statement that there is but one Law."

"I see what you mean," said Grace quietly. "You mean that we must hold so perfectly to the allness of Good, that no shadow of ignorance can ever darken our vision or our consciousness."

"Yes, indeed, we all see that that is the ultimate," interposed Kate with some warmth, "but when and how are we to reach it?"

"In the first place we must know that the ultimate is always in the Now, and that by holding to our highest statements with that thought, we can rest in the consciousness of the allness of Good as Grace has expressed it. With that consciousness there is no judgment and no resistance."

Kate still looked mystified, "Please make it a little plainer," she begged.

"Well, last summer when I was called to treat Mrs. Hart's child, as you know, the father knew little or nothing of the Science, and when he insisted on having a physician what did I do? Instead of calmly realizing that all the medicine in the world could not hurt Truth, and dealing with his ignorance as I would with his fear, I felt that it would be a terrible thing to countenance such disloyalty, and so withdrew from treating the case, forgetting that the father's ignorance could not be called disloyalty; forgetting that my faithfulness to principle would be the same regardless of any and all ignorance. In fact my action belied my words that there is no reality in evil."

"But—why, what else could you do?" asked Kate with a puzzled frown.

"I could, or at least I ought to be able to maintain my faith and my consciousness of Good just the same under those, as other circumstances, and so make no resistance."

"Oh yes, I see what you mean," exclaimed Grace suddenly. "You mean that we make something of what we declare as nothing?"

"Exactly, Grace. We resist it by thinking it something antagonistic to Truth, whereas we should remember our first statement that there is but one Power. It is the One that heals in every instance. We know that. Why should we stop to combat what other people think or do not think?"

"There! Now I understand you," ejaculated Kate with a brightening face. "It is the One only which acts under all disguises, and—but what would you have us do?" suddenly falling into doubt again. As of old Kate was ever the questioner.

"Dear, I am not talking of persons or laying down rules of action for anybody, but I am giving you my idea of the non-resistance of evil. The question with me is, am I 'about my Father's business.' If I accuse someone of being unfaithful, or if I criticise any methods, means or persons, I still believe in something besides the Good. Even if I accuse myself in any way no matter how slight the fault, I am recognizing that which I have declared does not and never did exist. You see what I mean. There is no use to multiply examples."

"Oh yes, I see, but can I live up to it? That is the all important question," was the dreamily earnest reply.

"As for that I might say the same, but we are not to look at that side of the question. A safe and I think the very best guide to right living, is to measure every act by the standard of love. Would love prompt this or that thought, or decision or action? It is very easy to decide."

A thoughtful silence fell upon the group. The evening shadows grew deeper outside. The firelight cast long crimson shafts of light into the corners, and flickered fitfully over the faces and forms before the grate.

"I have been learning a lesson too." It was Kate who broke the silence. Her voice was reverential. Her eyes were bright with an inner light. "I have been holding strongly to the name—the name of Jesus Christ—and realizing what it means, and it has helped me more than anything."

"What does it mean, Kate? That is something which is still a little tainted with the old superstitious worship of a personality," said Grace.

"Beware, Grace; that is criticism. Put it away until you know," warned Mrs. Hayden.

"Thank you. Tell me every time," returned Grace humbly.

"Indeed, this contemplation of the name takes one farther from personality or the recognition of mere person than anything else," Kate went on earnestly. "Jesus Christ means God or Truth manifest. Holding the words with that thought, all sense of person, limitation, or time, disappears. Wisdom and power come to fill your consciousness, until the Christ life seems not only a possibility but a real demonstration." Kate paused. Perhaps she had said too much!

But there was no mistaking the vibration of a sympathetic thought, even if the pressure of friendly hands had not reassured her.

"It is wonderful how many ways there are of attaining the same end," mused Grace. "Now I can gain the same state of mind Kate speaks of, by holding to the idea of Law. To me everything is embodied in that, although of course, any great word understood as to its real meaning is an all-inclusive term. But we cannot always live in an ecstasy."

"We should not if we could," said Mrs. Hayden. "We must get beyond that if we ever attain the mental poise that will carry us through everything."

"But I am so weak," murmured Kate. "How shall I ever—"

"There, child, you are doing the very thing that will keep you from growing strong. What right have you to pass judgment on Katherine Turner anymore than on anyone else?" said Mrs. Hayden almost sternly; then suddenly softening her tone she added, "Dear heart, we must not let self judgment or self condemnation creep in upon us to leave their blight of discouragement or failure. No, the only way is to keep our eyes fixed on the mark of the high calling, resisting nothing, carrying on our lips, success, in our hearts love, in our lives truth. By the outer we judge nothing: by the inner we know all. Personally, that is, physically we are only a part of all external limitation. Individually, that is, spiritually, we are the potentiality of Infinity itself."

"And that means the possibility of true living, which is positively necessary to perfect demonstration," added Grace.

"Yes, perfect demonstration in oneself or in others," said Mrs. Hayden emphatically. "In fact the first, last, and only consideration is or should be true living, or the ability to be lived."

"That is what it amounts to, after all," accorded Grace, "for what is true living but the setting aside of self, so that the great, infinite Life may be established in our action, as a manifest reality?"

Kate rose softly, and went to the piano. Then spoke the mighty Voice through Music, and through that wondrous harmony a consciousness of the perfect Life, with all its power and presence, burst upon these three who were no longer three but One. For that moment they knew and lived only as the One, and in that moment the world received a baptism of blessed, healing tenderness.



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